Translator: Ranka

Editor/TLC: Barb

Picked Up in Winter <17>

As the white, big clumps of snow(雪) continued to fall, wrapping the surroundings around us, Jun Hyung pulled back his lips. And slowly opened his eyes(目). His eyelids that had been tightly shut slowly lifted and revealed the pupils behind them. A deep light was being reflected in those eyes(目) as he gazed at me. In the dark streets, the freshly fallen snow(雪) appeared to be very white. The cold air continued to touch my lips.

He stared at me silently for a while. And facing his eyes, I also couldn't say anything. I had fallen into confusion once again because of his unreasonable actions and my questions regarding it. If the action the other day was 'reward', then what should we name this one? Was this kiss only a 'reward'? If previously, he gave me a ‘reward', then this time was this ‘reward' by me? Was that it?

In fact, he also said it before kissing.

─I want it, too. Reward.

Just like that.

…… But Jun Hyung, common sense tells me that no person kisses a pet.

I was filled with anxiety and confusion regarding this act, which I couldn't interpret. I really didn't have any idea. What kind of existence was Happy to him? With which meaning does he approach? I realize that Happy wasn't simply a pet that he cared about. But, but nevertheless, was Happy's existence so dear to him, enough to become a lover?

…… If only I was a woman. If I were different from him in s.e.x (性), I wouldn't have felt this confused.

Looking at me in silence, he suddenly lowered his face towards mine. I stiffened as his face gradually approached me.

"What are you…"

Slightly brus.h.i.+ng my face, he leaned his forehead against my shoulder. An odd warmth came from that brush on the cheek. He grabbed my shoulder, not moving his face as he held me.

"Are you shaking, Happy…?"

It was a voice full of playfulness.

Ah…….

The moment I heard that voice, from my body which was stiffened with tension, strength left me with a snap. My pulse picked up. Though the question about the kiss remained unsolved, I felt a strange sense of security.

That was probably because of the s.h.i.+ft in his mood that created an unknown tension. It was the usual Jun Hyung. Only that thought filled my mind. And at that moment, I felt relieved. The tension slowly left my stiffened body. Maybe he felt me relaxing my back to the wall1, so with his face buried in my shoulder, he laughed.

"It's snowing."

"… hmm."

"I received a good Christmas gift, Happy."

"…… yeah."

I lightly answered. Every time he opened his mouth to speak, I felt the vibrations pa.s.s from my shoulders I thought… they felt good regardless. After all, this warmth was real, and… I found comfort in this warmth.

"Happy~!!!!"

"Arf arf~~"

At the same time the door opened, two figures jumped at me. The ident.i.ty of one of them was Min Hyung and the other was Patrasche. Min Hyung came quickly and hugged my leg suddenly. Patrasche laid on the dirty floor and exposed her stomach. At their behaviour, I smiled awkwardly and sat down, pet Min Hyung's hair and rubbed Patrasche's belly.

"Come on, everybody."

"Isn't it very cold outside?"

"Wow, that's a really explosive reaction. Evidently Happy is the most popular one in our family."

"… Came back a little early, huh."

Starting from Jun Hyung's parents, following Seon Hyung-nuna then to Dae Hyung, everyone spoke. I got up with Min Hyung, who didn't want to separate and pondered about my next words. At that time, Jun Hyung who was standing behind me took my hand and pulled me inside, muttering like it was habitual.

"I'm home."

That… usual mumble……

Why that did feel so awkward to me.

Yes, it was natural to say that when coming back home, it was a courtesy. It was an ordinary greeting said everywhere.

However……

I'm home, I'm home…  The word(s)2 that I wasn't even given the opportunity to say to my mother who was never at home when I came back. My mother, who, worried that I would wake up or she'd disturb my studies, used to enter the house carefully at dawn when everyone was asleep, evidently tired from her work. I was a shy kid who couldn't even properly say a simple greeting like 'Welcome back' to his mother.

Somehow, I felt my whole face heat up and slowly greeted his family.

"I'm… ho… me."

It was a line, way more awkward than the Christmas greetings. But it was a touching sentence.

"Welcome."

"Welcome, Happy~"

However, they smiled brightly and accepted my greetings, which I was ashamed of and had such a hard time saying. It has always been a leisure for those who use such greetings.

"Uwa, it's snowing~!!"

"Wow, really. It's a White Christmas this year."

When they spotted the snow falling, they exclaimed with joy. Min Hyung came down from my arms and ran out to the snow, Seon Hyung-nuna followed. Dae Hyung also soon exclaimed 'Hoo' and watched the snow falling from the sky.

"This year it's really a Merry Christmas."

Suddenly, I heard his mother mumble. The voice, full of happiness, strangely struck my chest, and I suddenly had difficulty breathing. With a stuffed chest I looked at the snow falling endlessly from the sky.

Next Christmas, what would I be doing…….

And even then, would this happiness come by…?

I took a deep breath. Still, my heart didn't feel comfortable.

Like that,

at the age of 18, my Christmas went by.

EN:

In some places in the paragraphs, you may see some Chinese words in brackets. Sometimes in Korean, some Chinese words are used, as in Hanja, with not only the same meaning to their Korean counterpart but also with similar character/strokes, to provide a deep meaning. If anyone can help us out with a better phrasing please don't hesitate to share it with us. ?

(TN: It's also helpful to aid in understanding the text sometimes because many Korean words are written/said the same way but with very different meanings. For example, eye and snow are both 눈(nun) so it can be confusing when used a lot and closely together.)

Here are their meanings-

(目) Mu – Eye

(雪) Xue – Snow/snowfall

(性) Xing – Gender/s.e.x/nature

There is a very subtle difference in Chinese and Korean characters of the above, it's very interesting. ^.^

Editor's Notes:

1) My back to the wall – It is a phrase which is used to describe when someone is in a difficult situation with no way out. The original phrase is- To have your back to the wall.

And since here the author worded as- 'relaxing my back to the wall', it meant that Hagil felt that he wasn't in a difficult situation anymore.

2) Since in the Korean language the meaning for I'm home/back is only 1 word while in English it is 3, so our translator Ranka decided to add '(s)' to it so that it won't cause any confusion. ?

TN:

This was a pretty short chapter but don't worry that won't last for long. ? It was a nice change after few long ones for me/us. ^^ As a reader myself, I love long chapters but as a translator, the shorter the better, it's a great struggle sometimes. xD

Also regarding updates, I think we'll just change the updating time to whenever we're done with the editing (Barb is kind of struggling with real life and I myself, am pretty busy looking for a job at the moment). I'll try to keep the posting time to once a week with a give or take few days which should be better and you at least won't be disappointed if there's no update on the scheduled day like now. ?

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